Do I know you?
by Mrs.H.Solo
Summary: "It has been years since she left Therese in a hotel, it has been years since she confessed her love to her, and it has been years since she waited in vain for her at the Oak Room..." Carol had a chance encounter with a ghost from her past.


Just wanted to share with you guys in this site my favorite story that I've ever written. Haha.

It was a sunny Friday afternoon, Carol finds herself sitting on a bench by the pond at the park, she just dropped off Rindy at Harge's and was on her way back to her apartment when she made a detour. Carol, with a lit cigarette on her finger, was staring at nowhere, drowning on her restless thoughts. God knows how many minutes has passed since she got there.

She remembered when she reached out to hold the hand of her 12 year old earlier that day in this very same park, but the young blonde quickly withdraws her hand from her Mother's grasp. Surprised by her daughter's gesture, Carol looked at her with astonishment and disbelief.

"Mom, I'm a big girl now. You don't have to hold my hand anymore." Rindy explained with a matter-of-fact tone.

"Oh I see." She smiled, revealing some wrinkles by her eyes, trying to hide the pain that shoots through her heart upon hearing those words that came out from her daughter. Although that she now enjoys a joint custody of their daughter with Harge, Carol still feels like that she already missed half of her daughter's life because of the divorce. She is still not ready for Rindy to grow up. Snapping back from her reverie, she took a long drag from her cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke before deciding that she should head home.

Home. Home is her empty, bare and cold madison avenue apartment. That's what her home for several years now.

As she was about to get up, she suddenly heard a loud wail of child not far from her. She followed the cries and it ultimately led her to a girl weeping under a tree by the pond. Seeing that there was no adult present around the child, she assumed that the girl was lost.

Carol quickly diminished the distance between them. When she was standing in front of the child she looked down to check if the girl was alright but she was taken a back with the sight that she have seen. Carol felt that all the blood on her face drained. She felt that someone just punched her on the stomach, sucking out all the air inside her. Suddenly, she found herself clutching her knuckles and gasping for air.

"Th- Therese…" Carol almost said in a whisper.

Now that's a name that she had not said out loud for a long time. It has been years since she left Therese in a hotel, it has been years since she confessed her love to her, and it has been years since she waited in vain for her at the Oak Room. She's been collecting different photos shot by Therese ever since she learned that she was working for the paper, keeping them safe in a little box back in her apartment. This made her feel somewhat connected and close to her Angel. But this hobby of hers stopped, 4 or 5 years ago, when she can't find any photos by a T. Belivet on the Times anymore. She assumed that her former lover may have relocated or maybe got married. Carol's heart still yearns and shouts for the only person that she truly loved.

But, alas, the person in front of her was not Therese. It was a little brunette girl, around 5 or 6 in age, with big emerald round teary eyes, staring back at her with an empty cone on her hand; her ice cream must have fallen out of the cone.

"Darling, don't cry now." she said as she wipes the tears from the emerald round eyes of the kid.

"Ice cream… Gone…" the little girl managed to reply in between sobs.

"Sweetie, I'm sorry about your ice cream…" Carol said still staring at the emerald eyes in front of her.

"It's okay… *Sniffs* …I just begged Daddy to buy me one… *sniffs* …Maybe Mommy doesn't want me to ruin dinner… *sniffs*" the little girl shrugged, still wiping her tears.

"Oh that's too bad. Come on, I am going to buy you one. And perhaps, you would like to join me to the ice cream truck for you to be able to choose the flavor. Would you?" she held out her hand for the girl.

The little girl froze and stopped sniffing, she then looked intensely at Carol's hands.

"Ahmm… Maybe…" the little girl replied shyly who then started playing with the hem of her dress.

Carol laughed at the gesture of the little girl.

"After we buy your ice cream, we're going to look for your Mommy. So come on, don't be shy now." she held out her hand again.

"A-are you sure? You- you really don't have to Ma'am"

Carol was impressed by how polite the little girl is.

"Yes. Please, I insist."

Reluctantly, the little girl accepted her hand. The girl smiled at her and Carol felt shivers run through her body at the sight of deep dimples from each rosy cheeks of the girl. And again, she finds her insides shoots with pain as she stared intensely at the girl. The dimples that she dearly missed so much suddenly appeared in front of her.

All this years, Carol knows that Therese will or may have eventually marry and build a family to call her own. But the thought of having someone wrap their arms around her beloved makes her shudder from the inside.

 _Could it be?_

The little girl noticed that Carol was staring at her and has become self-conscious and rather guilty.

"Ahmm… I really shouldn't Ma'am" she then hesitantly withdrew her hand from Carol's. This is the second rejection that happened within the day and it breaks her heart. Carol sighed at the thought.

"Why?"

"Ahmm… You look so sad. I think—I think that you could use the ice cream more than me. To make you happy!"

"Don't worry about me darling. I'm going to be alright" she said while standing up.

"And besides, Daddy told me to never go with peculiar strangers" the girl added.

The statement made Carol raise one of her eyebrows.

"Alright little one. How am I peculiar?" she asked playfully.

"Ma'am, you—ahmmm.."

"Go on dear, I don't bite" she said with a smile to reassure the youngster that it was alright.

"It seems that you're always distracted. You're just staring at me, it is making me a wee bit uncomfortable" the girl explained shyly.

Carol held her head back and laugh at the boldness of this child.

 _Kids TRULY say the darndest things!_

"Do I?! Well, I'm terribly sorry for making you a wee bit uncomfortable young lady"

Carol smiled and the little girl grinned back making the dimples appear again. She caught herself staring again at the child.

 _Goddamn it. I just have to ask._

"So, where are your parents? Ahhmm—Where's your mommy?"

"Daddy just went to the restroom over there" the girl pointed towards the direction of the public toilets.

 _I don't give a damn about your father. Please tell me where There—ahmm- Your Mother is!_

She cleared her throat

"And your Mommy?" she asked nervously and held her breath.

 _Jesus! You're nervously talking to a toddler! But what if she's here with her? I mean, I haven't seen her for a long time. Get a grip Carol! You don't know for sure if she really is her child!_

As she was having a heated debate with her own thought, Carol can hear her heart beat going as fast as it can inside her chest.

"Ahhmm.. Mommy is here" the girl clutched her hands on her chest.

"Where?" puzzled Carol asked.

"Here… Daddy said that Mommy went to live in my heart when she gave birth to me. So that she can always be with me "

 _Hold on! What? What are you telling me?!_

She was about to push for more details when suddenly…

"Carol! What are you doing?"

Shocked with the sudden outburst from a voice she doesn't recognize, she turned around to face the man who's responsible for that interruption.

"Yes?" she asked the man with a boyish face and a sleek black curly hair.

"Carol, I told you to wait for me by the door!" exclaimed the man.

Carol was puzzled, she just don't recognize the man and yet, there he was, calling her by her name as if they've known each other for years…

 _Who the hell is this goddamn man?! The nerve!_

But as she was about to respond and ask the man who he was, the man suddenly dropped on his knees and opened his arms…

"Come here you little rascal! I thought I lost you!" he said addressing the little girl.

Carol stood dumbly as she watched the little brunette girl run towards the man and hug him back.

 _Oh. Her name is Carol too._


End file.
